The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Marks of Heresy

Things haven't changed much since that eventful day. The Serpent still speaks with a "forked tongue"! Remember, it is recorded of the Serpent, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made." (Gen 3:1) and "He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof." (Jh 8:44) I think it can be rightly said, therefore, that the Devil is a "subtle ". His modus operandi is to intermix truth and error in cleverly couched language so as to convince men of that which is contrary to God's truth. (A good example of this is the current attempt of those following the teachings of Norman Shepherd, e.g., Doug Wilson, Steve Schlissel, Wright, et al, to distort the biblical and historical teaching of Sola Fide)

So, in the Serpent's words: "Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.", there is some truth and lots of error. The most obvious error is the total contradiction of what God had originally told Adam, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Of course, one could possibly say that even in regard to the Devil's denial of the threat of death was partially true in that physical death was only germinate on that day and didn't actually occur until centuries later. But of course we know that the "death" which God promised would take place should Adam eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was three-fold and not restricted to physical death. Secondly, it is also partially true, in one sense, that their eyes were opened and they were able to determine good and evil. But once again, this is a distortion of truth. Their eyes were "opened" indeed, but in the sense that this was in regard to Adam and Eve's own estimation. They thought they could see, but they were blind. They thought they were able to discern good from evil. But in fact, all they were able to do was to ascertain the lesser of evils and had no comprehension or even desire for that which was good; they were DEAD to all that pertained to God and His holiness, righteousness and goodness.

The bottom line, IMHO, is that what the Serpent said would happen should Eve eat the fruit did NOT come to pass.

In His Grace,